Gainesville residents, business owners share frustration with downtown parking

About 40 Gainesville residents and local business owners gathered in Bo Diddley Plaza Wednesday night to express their concerns with the city's downtown parking protocols.

The meeting was hosted by SP+, a parking facility management company working with the city of Gainesville, in hopes of hearing what community members have to say about parking availability and pricing downtown.

Forum attendees largely agreed downtown parking should be free and more of it should be made available. Some argued for the time limits on parking spots to be increased, as well as for the parking spots taken up along Southwest First Street by Streatery, the city’s outdoor seating program, to be made available for cars again.

Many of the forum’s attendees have already spoken to the city about their concerns and have not seen the changes they want, said Andrew Schaer, owner of Hear Again Records.

“We’re just not buying it,” he said. “We’re pissed off.”

More:New $45 million Hyatt Place Gainesville Downtown opens Thursday across from Hippodrome

More:Downtown Gainesville could soon make its 'streatery' scene permanent

Schaer submitted a petition to the city with 1,500 to 1,800 signatures urging against paid parking Wednesday morning, he said. The city implemented a paid marking model for a short period in January 2022, a trial run that he said caused between 50% to 75% in revenue loss for his business and others. It’s tough to attract people to downtown businesses because the parking situation can be difficult or stressful, Schaer said, especially when customers don’t plan on staying for a long time.

“It sucks for those customers to be expected to pay to park to run in and get a cup of coffee, grab a slice of pizza, pick up an order from a local restaurant,” he said. “That added expense deters people to come in, and after they deal with it enough times, they just don't.”

Business owners like Schaer, as well as Anthony Rue, the owner of Volta Coffee, argued it’s unfair that parking fees and limits are lifted in the evening when traffic is busier, while daytime-oriented businesses are forced to have customers search for or pay for parking.

“It just seems like the city’s got it upside down,” Rue said.

City commissioners were largely absent from the meeting, with the exception of Ed Book, to many attendees' concerns.

“It would have been great to see more commissioners considering that they're the ones who are going to make the final call on all this,” Schaer said. “They didn’t bother to turn up.”

The city is taking into consideration the opinions of the community to find solutions to downtown parking issues, said Thomas Idoyaga, a transit community service specialist from Regional Transit System.

“There’s no easy answers,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out what the public wants.”

The consulting firm SP+ is asking community members to fill out a survey with concerns they have about parking, though many in attendance remain unconvinced the city will listen.

“I feel like they should maybe listen to their citizens and local businesses more than consulting firms from Chicago,” Schaer said.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Downtown parking in Gainesville leaves business owners frustrated